Family Day Friday!

Today the Daddy had the day off and we went to the zoo!  Grammi and Papa got us a zoo pass and today was our first time to get to use it.  We will definitely be using it often!  Because we have a pass, I didn't feel like after we'd been there only an hour or so we had to stay to "get our money's worth" even though it was super hot because hey, we can come back for an hour every day next week if we want to!  

The new elephant habitat is amazing! And we got to see the baby elephant which was still fairly small, as far as elephants go.  

Milo getting ready for the zoo - as you'll see he spend most of the visit chewing on this strap.  Teething might just be the death of us around here...

Mama and baby elephant. Mama's name is Asha and baby's name is Malee, the third elephant in the pic is Asha's sister, Chandra. (Daddy's name is Sneezy and he lives in Tulsa.) They were spraying themselves and the baby with mud here:

Mama and Auntie never let the baby far from them - most of the time they were on either side of her:

Milo thinks the elephants are pretty cool:

See?  She's still little for an elephant...although when she was born she weighed 304 lbs.  YIKES!

Here the baby was trying to climb over this log but got high centered for a few minutes.  She finally got one of her back knees up a little bit and then Mama or Auntie came over and gave her a little trunk to rear support and helped her on over...only for her to turn around and go back over it the other way:

The baby was so cute playing in the water.  She just rolled around and splashed and looked like she was having a big old time:

Milo still thinks the elephants are cool and is still unwilling to give up the strap:

Milo and Mama with a gorilla:

I believe this was a black bear.  We saw the grizzlies too but they were pretty far away and lying in the shade (for which I cannot blame them as they are wearing heavy winter coats and it was HOT out there):

We stopped through the children's zoo for just a few minutes to let Milo cool his toes in the little stream:

In spite of the warm day, we had a fabulous time.  We loved spending time as a family and can't wait to go back to see more animals!

MFT: Swings!

Look! I'm on time! (Wait, it's still Monday, right?)

I'm linking up with Abby at graduate "extraordinaire" for My Favorite Things!

This week, my favorite thing is the weather. Oh my word, I have been LOVING it. I'll tell you, running is MUCH nicer in 80 degree weather than in EIGHT degree weather. And we get to go for walks after work, we've gotten to do a BUNCH of much needed maintenance in our flower beds, and tonight (after making a much dreaded trip to the grocery store) we walked to the park where Milo got to swing for the very first time!

Well, he sat in my lap and we both swung (swang? swinged?) because I'm still a new mom and a germophobe and there was no way on earth I was putting him in one of those infant swings w/out wiping it down (or maybe running it through an autoclave) and I really didn't have the option of doing either of those things so he sat in my lap. This kid LOVES to be outside. He is just so relaxed when we're outdoors. And I really can't say that I blame him - the warmer temperatures, the nice breeze we've been having (well, the nice breeze with gusts up to 40 mph anyway), and all the blooming flowers and trees...I'm relaxed too! We are trying to take full advantage of this awesome spring weather before summer gets here (probably sometime next week). Gotta love Oklahoma weather!

Happy Monday to you all!

Vertical Stripes

Mom says vertical stripes are slimming but I don't know...

...do they make my butt look big?

P.S. Grammy, please don't get onto Mommy for making me say "butt". She won't really let me say it when I'm old enough to talk for myself. :)

MFT: International Edition

Forgot to say - I'm linking up with Abby @ graduate "extraordinaire"!

I know, I know. I'm late again. Whatever. Milo is teething so yesterday I did pretty much nothing other than hold him and try to keep his mind off of his teeth.

This week's favorite thing comes to you from sunny Guatemala! Well, sort of. I'm not in Guatemala. Neither is this item, at least not any more. My parents just went on a medical mission trip to that country and of course they brought back goodies for the kids and grandkids. One of the things my sisters and I got were these awesome beaded bracelets!

I love it because it's pretty sturdy and it seriously will match ANYTHING. I love that I can accessorize without thinking. Wearing cute things like this makes me feel like I at least put a little effort into getting ready - makes up for days like yesterday when I never get out of my pjs and don't even shower. Ugh.

P.S. Does anyone else think that photo is awkward? How do you take a picture of your wrist w/out it looking awkward because clearly I don't have a clue!

Four by Four

Howdy! So my bloggy friend Abby tagged me in a four by four (four questions, four answers each) and since I'm putting off doing some property tax forms, this seemed like the perfect activity! Here are mine, read on to see if I tagged you at the end (this is a group participation activity kids)!

01. Four Places I Go
- work
- church
- lake/river trails to run
- TARGET!!!!

02. Four Favorite Smells
- freshly bathed baby Milo (really baby Milo any time)
- waffles and bacon cooking at Mema's house
- the fresh smell of ozone right after a rainstorm (Abby - I stole this one but it's ALWAYS on my list)
- Christmas trees (real ones, not the smell of dust off of the one that just got dragged out of the attic/basement)

03. Four Favorite Movies/Shows
- Big Bang Theory
- NCIS
- How I Met Your Mother
- The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise (love all the movies but saying it this way it only counts as one entry - see how I did that?)

04. Four Recommendations
- Spend a weekend (or a week if it takes that long) and clean out your closets and anywhere else you have extra stuff stashed. We just did this (five carloads to Goodwill!) and I cannot tell you how good it feels!
- Get up early sometimes. Especially in the spring/early summer (you can often catch smell #3 mentioned above), and even if you aren't a morning person. You don't have to go run five miles, just get up and sit on the porch with your morning beverage of choice and enjoy the quiet.
- Go check out my friend Erick's new album here. He's awesome. His wife is crazy talented too. They're like a musical power couple.
- Go read my sister's blog here. She's a riot. You'll laugh til you cry, I promise. If you don't, you're taking yourself way too seriously.

And now, (drumroll please) I tag:

Audrey (the aforementioned sister) @ Goodbye Dignity, Hello Motherhood

Miranda @ A Tale of Tractors and Tiaras

Elise @ Millers on the Move

Shannon @ Meet Me In St. Louis

Annnnnddddd.....GO! :)

Fun Giveaway!

No, not me. I'm not giving anything away. Well, unless you want the trunk full of stuff I've been hauling around for three weeks intending to drop at the church for the garage sale but instead it's serving to weigh down the back of my car on the ice and snow. But I digress...

Emily, over at The Pilot's Wife, is giving away a $50 shop credit to Lisa Leonard Designs. I love love love Lisa's work - I have the word of the year necklace (see this post if you want to know what that's all about) and absolutely love it. You can get up to EIGHT entries in this giveaway! Seriously. I know that most of the people who follow me are snowed in AGAIN today so here's something to do - go to Emily's blog and enter the giveaway!

Back on the Horse

A couple of weeks ago we went to lunch with my cousin. She casually asked if we'd be interested in training for the Memorial Half Marathon. Little did she know...I've wanted to do it (at least walk it if not run) for a couple of years but this last year I obviously had other things going on... So I said yes. That afternoon she sent me a Google calendar link with our training schedule and the next morning at 6:45 we took off. So now we're on week three, running three days a week, more often than not leaving the house before 7 a.m. For those of you that know me well, I'm not really a morning person but that's when she goes and I'm more likely to stick with it if I've got company. I've had to buy a new pair of running shoes (a FULL SIZE bigger than the ones I was wearing before I got pregnant) and I've been reminded that I have almost no cartilage in my right knee. But in spite of that, I'm enjoying it (mostly) and it's good time spent chatting with my cousin (or listening to her since I can't speak due to shortness of breath). Once it warms back up and we have a jogging stroller, the little man will be able to go with me on some of my runs, but for the time being he stays home with Daddy and they get some man time early in the morning.

All of that to say...I'm training for a half marathon that happens on May 1, 2011. Holy smokes!

Fall Festival

The day before Halloween we had our Fall Festival/Trunk or Treat at church. Nathan and our friend Michael transformed the trunk of the Honda into a giant face:



With dry ice fog:


Milo wore his cute little pumpkin outfit (made by our uber-talented friend Shannon - check out her blog/website here):


And he fell asleep within 20 minutes of arriving at the building and slept nearly the whole time. Clearly he was just overwhelmed with excitement.



And a couple more shots of the whole outfit once we got home and he was awake. Please excuse the horrid lighting. And yes, he's standing with little assistance. This kid LOVES to stand up. Must have gotten the natural boundless energy from his Daddy.

Random pics

Just a few pics from the past couple of months. Some of my favs. :)

A Few of my Favorite Things

I know it's been ages since I've updated...I've been kind of busy! We're getting into a routine here at the house and then I started back to work this week so it's been hectic! Here are just a few highlights of the last few weeks.

Milo's room: It's mostly done now. Since these pictures were taken I've done a few more things but this is essentially how it looks.

The nightstand in this pic is not the one we ordered...it's a loaner. But that's a whole different post.

He hasn't slept in his crib yet, but I've gotten the blankets and extra diapers out of it and removed the bumper so he COULD sleep in it if we wanted him too. (He's sleeping in the pack 'n play in our room and until he sleeps through the night REGULARLY, that's where he'll stay!)

Milo and Daddy

Sweet boy. He doesn't always take a pacifier...he was this night. He usually spits it out right before he goes to sleep though.

A few other random pics:

And finally, the first OSU game of the season was this past weekend. Milo put on his game day onesie and listened to the game with me:

Go Pokes!

I think that's pretty well it for now. I'll do a post here in a minute with just some random pics of Milo - I moved all my pics from my phone to the computer so there are PLENTY to choose from.

Good Cause

I've blogged about the Vintage Pearl before (see what I said here). Now Erin has this really great necklace in her ready to ship shop, and the profits go to help people who are trying to adopt children. So, go here and check out her new necklace and "help some babies get home"!

Fun Stuff

Since I've been so boring in the post area lately, I thought I'd make up for it by sharing some websites with you...places you can spend your hard earned money. :) Recently I've been turned on to a few super fun websites. The three I'm sharing today are three super talented ladies (one of them right here in OK!) who make fun handmade products.

The first is The Vintage Pearl. Erin makes way cute hand-stamped jewelry mostly for women but she has recently added some pieces for men AND she has a "ready to ship" shop as well. I have the "dainty initial hearts necklace" (what N got me for Valentine's day) and LOVE it. You can check out her shop (link above) or follow her blog here. She does giveaways and coupons on the blog!

Next is Gussy. She taught herself to sew a couple years ago and she makes all kinds of things that all have her signature freestyle ruffle on them. This is my bag that I just recently ordered (I also have a checkbook cover and small zipped pouch!):

(And yes, that's it sitting on top of the bag and diaper bag that we have packed for the hospital and are NOT using.) Check out her shop (link above) and follow her blog here.

Last, but certainly not least, is Jessica at allorahandmade. She makes jewelry and accessories with pretty handrolled flowers on them...I just ordered a necklace and earrings and can't wait to get them! (Ruffles and flowers...I think maybe I'm "girling it up" for myself because I'm about to have a baby boy and will be very outnumbered in my house...)

Anyway, enjoy looking at all the pretty stuff! And if you have a shop/site you'd like to share, feel free to post it in the comments. I'm always hunting for fun new things!

Icepocalypse 2010 Part 2

Today we went over to Emily's and played in the snow with her and Clint. The snow turned out to be too dry to make a regular sized snowman so we made a little one. He was cute though! Nathan made a snowball pyramid thingy...it was quite impressive. And that thing at the end that looks like plain snow is actually a snow slug that Clint made. He started out aiming for a snow fort but it was way too cold to be out for that long and since the snow wasn't packing as well as we'd have liked, it turned into a snow slug. We had fun though!